OVC – Two Races

Battling for Byes and Invitations

(St. Louis, MO) – In the ever exciting Ohio Valley Conference there are two races going on. At the top of the league five teams are battling for byes and at the bottom, they are trying to earn an invitation.

Only eight of 12 OVC teams are invited to the conference’s postseason tournament. The top two teams receive a double-bye into the semi-finals and teams three and four earn a bye into the quarters. Teams five through eight have to claw their way to that round.

A Brawl for First and Second Place

There is a three-way tie for first place. Austin Peay, Jacksonville State and Murray State stand at 6-1. Nipping at their heals are preseason favorite Belmont and the over achieving Eastern Illinois Panthers at 5-and-2.

JSU gave Belmont both of their losses and the Bruins handed Murray State their only defeat. APSU’s only blemish came at the hands of EIU. Those five teams are battling for the two most coveted spots in the league.

Seven of the top eight scorers during league play, come from these five teams, as do the top three rebounders. As the top third of the league is battling for byes, Tthere is a large divide with the rest of the conference.

Scratching for An Invitation

At the other end of the spectrum are seven teams fighting for their postseason life. Morehead State (4-3) could still climb into that other category (they host Jacksonville State Saturday), but the other six teams are under .500 and some significantly so.

Tennessee Martin has lost all seven of their league games, but four of their games have been determined by five or fewer points and two have gone into overtime. Southeast Missouri has just one win and they’ve also played in four games determined by five or fewer points and they’ve had one OT contest.

Southern Illinois Edwardsville, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech all stand at 2-and-5. Eastern Kentucky (3-4) has won three straight games including Thursday’s victory over Jacksonville State. This is dogs fighting over scraps.

While every game is significant, here are Saturday’s three key games.

Battling For Byes

Belmont (5-2) @ Austin Peay (6-1) – 4 pm – ESPN+

Belmont has dominated this series. Since joining the OVC. Rick Byrd’s team has won seven of eight matchups. However, APSU is the league’s best shooting team from both inside and outside of the arc and they lead the league in turnover margin.

Preseason ‘Player of the Year’ Dylan Windler is Belmont’s leading scorer and rebounder and is a rare inside/outside threat. The senior is fifth in the league in scoring and second in rebounding, but also is the second most prolific three-point shooter.

Fighting For Invitations

SIUE (2-5) @ UT Martin (0-7) – 4 pm – ESPN+

The Cougars are coming off a triple overtime win at SEMO. It was SIUE’s third OVC OT game in seven outings. Jon Harris’ team has the unique distinction of being the worst field goal shooting team in the league, but are the sharpest from the charity stripe.

UTM’s record is deceiving. They’ve dropped two overtime games and two other games (Austin Peay and Eastern Illinois) by two points. The Skyhawks’ record could very easily be very different. They are second in the OVC at converting threes (9.1 per game) and have four players averaging double figures in OVC play.

Tennessee Tech (2-5) @ Eastern Kentucky (3-4) – 6 pm – ESPN+

One of the hottest OVC teams are the Colonels. With three straight victories and the league’s most dynamic player, not named Ja Morant, they are a team on the rise. EKU’s games are exciting. They lead the league in scoring (86.3 ppg) and have the worst scoring defense (86.7). A.W. Hamilton has his team pressing, running and gunning. The Colonels lead the league in steals (9.9) and senior Nick Mayo’s 22.6 point per game average is second only to Morant’s 25.7.

Tech opened OVC play with a nail-biting win at Tennessee State and were 2-and-1 after an overtime win against SIUE. They’ve lost four straight. These two teams couldn’t be more different. The Golden Eagles are the second poorest scoring team and second best defensive team. It will be a clash of styles in Cookeville.

At the top of the league they are battling for byes, at the bottom they are scratching for an invitation. Great theater is being provided by the OVC.

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